Monday, November 24, 2014

I had planned to write about the kitchen tonight, but I cannot. It seems so frivolous when held up against the events of this past week. The kitchen can wait.

I grew up with the myths and legends of both ancient and modern Israel. I know about revisionist history, two sides to every story, and how the truth lies somewhere in the middle of it all. But I also know a bit about the long term history of that strip of land, and the most important aspect that too many people refuse to admit is that Jews have lived here continuously for over 3000 documented years. Just as the French have lived in France, the Celts in Ireland, the Welsh in Wales, the Swedes in Sweden....the big difference is we have written history....like the Egyptians in Egypt, the Syrians in Syria, the Persians in Iran. We were a literate people very early on. And if the Five Books of Moses have a lot of improbable tales, it also provides the foundation for law in much of the Western World. Jews built Jerusalem and put the Temple there. In fact, 2 Temples. The place on which the Mosque of Omar sits is, was, and always will be The Temple Mount. Not the Church Mount or the Mosque Mount....the Temple Mount because even the Koran recognizes that the Temple was there first. Before Islam was even created. This is not a mystery shrouded in the mists of time; this is well documented history even without the spin. Of course, it is tough to miss those walls.

(Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO/Flash 90)

But on the morning of November 18th, as a group of Orthodox men were saying shacharit Amidah in a study hall in Har Nof, on the western...not the eastern....side of Jerusalem, two men came in with axes, knives, and guns. They attacked a group of guys in tallitot and tefillin, standing in prayer. What was their crime? Being Jewish? What about Zidan Sayif? His crime? Being a police officer who rushed in to save lives at the cost of his own. He was not a Jew living in Israel. He was a Druze living in the same land his family has always lived in, living as free citizens of the State of Israel.

Just like every other indigenous people in any other country, Jews have a right to live in their own land. 3000 years of documented history is a clue. That the only sovereign states to have ever existed on that land were three Jewish states....First Kingdom, Second Kingdom, and the State of Israel....is a big clue. Israelis of all kinds have a right to be safe in their homes, safe on their streets, safe in their schools, safe in the malls, safe in their houses of worship whatever they are....as do the Palestinians. Israel affords citizenship and civil rights to Jews, Christians, Muslim, Baha'i, whatever. It's a Jewish state with a Jewish calendar, but how is that different from Italy operating on a Christian calendar, or Indonesia using a Muslim calendar to mark its communal holidays and holy days? It's not. What is different is that the stated goal of Hamas is to kill every last Jew in Israel. What's another dead Jews amongst friends, right?

The world will continue to turn a blind eye to the bloodshed in Israel and the Arab world until some madman gets a bomb and threatens to glass over everyone else. We ignore this at our own peril. Throw Israel under the bus, and you no longer have a democratic partner in the ME. Hand over more land to Hamas, and be prepared to add another brick in the wall of the new caliphate. Why do groups like the BDS movement think that's an okay thing? Do they think they're gonna get a better deal under Hamas? They won't. They'll be treated like Jews and Christians no matter what they say or protest or claim. They don't get it. In fact, most of the world doesn't get it. We are the canary in the coal mine. If they round us up and shoot us all in the head, it's not gonna stop with us. The Christians will be next. The "other kind" of Muslims will come after that. And the blood will run in the streets. Reasonable People of the World, Unite! It's past the time to start saying no. Here, there, and everywhere. Y'know, there are a lot more of us than them. If we all stood together, we could change the world. What we cannot do is remain silent.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Winter has settled early in Minnesota...causing premature brain freeze. It's November and the temperature is expected to reach a balmy 18°F. No, that is not the wind chill.

Did anyone happen to catch FACE THE NATION on Sunday morning? There was a seriously good lineup: Bibi Netanyahu, Claire McCaskill, and....wait for it.....Mitt Romney.

Mittens stole the show. Tan, smiley, and flip, he said the President should "take a breath," and let the "Republican Congress; the Republican House, the Republican Senate come together with legislation to put on his desk which relates to immigration." And what legislation would that be? The one they passed in the Senate but Speaker Boehner would not let the House take up? Mittens called the possibility of an executive order "extra-constitutional," and a "poke in the eye at the Republican leaders." Is he serious? I almost hope they run him again....just for the entertainment value. The man has a hermetically sealed vacuum between his ears.

We, the People elected President Obama because he was no-drama. I know I keep saying this, but it keeps getting truer. Despite what the Republicans claimed during the last election cycle, the economy has improved, the markets are at an 8 year high, more people have jobs, more people have health coverage, more troops are home, and consumer confidence is up. Does this sound like a President who has failed his nation?

No one wants to send troops back into the Levant except John McCain and his paralunatic fringe. The vast majority in this nation don't see same-sex marriage as an issue....and unless SCOTUS makes it one, it will settle in. And no one is going to tell millions of people they can no longer have health care; ACA is a fait accompli. No, it's not perfect....it's just a beginning.

Which brings to me interesting observation for the month of November. We, the People of L'Etoil du Nord, sent Mark Dayton back to the governor's mansion and Al Franken back to the Senate. Senator Al had more than a 10 point lead on Mike "gimme-them-scissors" McFadden. The Governor's margin was a little smaller, 6 points, but enough to make him unquestionably the governor. Listening to the adverts from their opponents, one would think Minnesotans hated them both and felt both had failed in their jobs. But they didn't.

Senator Franken won his second term not because he distanced himself from the President, but because he continually pointed out the successes of this administration. He ran on a platform that acknowledged more could've been done, but there was real progress in the economic state of the Union. His campaign centered on what was working and where the challenges were and how to address them. If Minnesotans went to the polls at all in the election, it was to make sure our voices continued to be heard in the Senate. The class clown the GOP expected was not what they got. They got a Harvard educated, excessively intelligent, nose-to-the-grindstone kinda guy all Minnesotans deserved: a guy who put the welfare of L'Etoil first.

The ones who lost, if you really wanna take a close look, are the ones who distanced themselves from the good that was done, that refused to speak up on behalf of a President who led exactly the way people wanted him to lead. The ones who lost are the ones who allowed the GOP fear-mongering to dominate their campaigns. Oberbobemober, who ran no campaign that I could discern, allowed John Kline's ads to trash him as well as the President with absolutely no response whatsoever. There was no one to say, "Hey, CongressClown Kline.....people who were unable to get heath care now have insurance." There was no one to ask, "If you are in a heavily agricultural district, why don't you give a damn about groundwater and pollution?" Not having a response is like handing the guy the election....which is exactly what the party did.

So, here's the deal: I'm going to try like hell not to write about politics for a little while. Frankly, we got what we elected and now we have to live with it. Nothing we can do until the (G-d save us!) 2016 election cycle from hell kicks in. Next week will be the long anticipated kitchen remodeling blog, complete with pictures, to get us into the mood for Thanksgiving. And I promise not to post any boring pictures of the world's most brilliant and erudite baby girl....who, at not quite one month, is already reading the NY Times at breakfast and doing AP math.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Gentle readers, No blog today. I have been felled by a chest cold, and if you know me in real life, this can be a BIG deal.I really wanted to write about the Tea Party's response to the GOP big win last week...but I don't have the strength to keep my head up long enough to be indignant.It's tough to type when you're hacking up a lung. I am not used to being sick. I don't like it at all. I just hate feeling bloody awful.I'm going to bed now.the WP

Monday, November 3, 2014

Instead of being all excited
about getting out the vote and other assorted favorite pastimes, I don't even
want to write about the damn thing. Saying I am disgusted by what I read and
what I see is a modest understatement to the total revulsion I feel toward the election process.

Not that I think there is a
better one. I just don't think that the lies, viciousness, more lies, outright
lies, sleight of hand, sleight of mouth, sleight of brain is the way to present
the case for electing those who will govern this country.

We are struggling to maintain a
technological edge in this global economy and morons like Mitch McConnell are saying they're not so sure about environmental science. Our kids are not doing
well in maths and sciences, but we're
too busy cutting programs to spend money on education..unless, of course, it's
to add creationism to the curriculum as science. Our roads and bridges are
crumbling, yet not one congressperson is suggesting we start a WPA-like system
to actually employ people to fix the roads and bridges. No, we're spending
billions on private contractors who cannot manage to finish anything on time,
much less under budget. And in the past week, we've seen what a screaming
success private sector space research has become.

And people are gonna send the same people
back to congress who think their jobs are to stop the government from
functioning. I am talking about both sides here, although the GOP has a pretty
good track record of doing anything and everything possible to destroy the
office of the President of the United States. And if they do it to the Dems,
just wait..the Dems will do it to the next GOP president. Gag me with a spoon.
I've seen better behaved first graders.

As for the local races I once
cared about...well, the opposition candidate for mayor of Mendota Heights got
himself into an "altercation" at the Moose...at a benefit for Officer Patrick who
was shot last summer... and admitted he was drinking beers "throughout the day," but took a cab home. DING DING DING DING DING..WRONG ANSWER. He has virtually disappeared
from sight. And Oberbobermober? Money thrown into the wind. He was never a
serious candidate and if he didn't know that, he's too stupid to be running for
anything. The Dem-machine made up its mind that the 2nd wasn't worth the
bother, so there is no choice.And the creepy guy running for Governor against Mark Dayton looks like Eddie Haskell and sounds like the kid running for junior high student council who promises, "If elected I'll make sure they serve chocolate pudding every day at lunch!" Yeah, right. Like that is gonna happen. He has been calling the governor senile for the past few months.

"After 37 years in politics, I don't think he's up to the job. He doesn't know what's in the bills he signs. I don't think he's an engaged governor"

And you are????????? You can't even remember what you said in your own policy statements! Check out minutes 21-23 on the Vikings' stadium. The guy is living in cloud-cuckoolandNot that it matters. What matter to these voters is that which scares them most.

So I am signing off for the
evening. I will get up early tomorrow to vote because I lost my right to
complain if I don't vote. And besides, they're trying to get a levy to
build a football stadium for Henry Sibley
High School. There's a "NO" vote. The other two referendums I am
supporting. But NOT ONE RED CENT for a
game that breaks children's brains. Wanna hear the really sad part? I think of the three referenda, the one most like to pass is the stadium...which should tell you something about this school district

Next week, I just may write about
the kitchen renovation, Definitely a more uplifting topic.

[Muppet News Flash~ I voted at Friendly Hills Middle School at 7:30 this morning.]

LINGUA GALACTICA

DREAM DANCER

About Me

I am a widow, a mother, a mother-in-law, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a grandmother, and I guess since I also have a grandpuppy, that makes me a grandbitch. On the other side of living, I'm playwright, director, and novelist. I have the requisite day job for insurance and steady taxable income. You can now like me on Facebook now, too - just put THE WIFELY PERSON in your search box! https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wifely-Person/163546490391811 OR write to me at thewifelyperson@gmail.com